Status: 07.10.2023, 15:18 PM
By: Bettina Menzel
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Palestinian territories, Gaza City: Palestinians take control of an Israeli military vehicle after crossing the border fence with Israel from Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. © Mohammed Talatene/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++
On October 7, the radical Palestinian organization Hamas launched a large-scale attack on Israel. The reasons for the conflict lie far in the past.
Jerusalem – Israel is "at war" with the Palestinian militant organization Hamas after massive rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "The enemy will pay an unprecedented price," the Israeli leader said on Saturday (7 October). The conflict between the warring parties is many decades old and very complex – Hamas is concerned with the destruction of Israel.
The Establishment of the State of Israel Begins with War
The State of Israel was established in 1948. This was preceded by Zionism, a movement to establish a Jewish nation-state that emerged in the 19th century, well before the Holocaust. Throughout history, Jews have repeatedly been victims of anti-Semitism and have been expelled from their homeland in numerous regions of the world. After the Second World War and the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis, support for the Zionist idea grew internationally.
During the Nazi pogroms, many Jews had already fled to what was then British Mandate Palestine. In the 1947 UN Partition Plan, the United Nations divided Palestine into one state for Jews and one for Arabs. The area, where Jews lived in ancient times, is considered the "Holy Land" and the root of Judaism in the Hebrew Bible. While most Jews supported the UN plan, the majority of Arabs rejected the proposal.
Shortly after Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed independence, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan attacked the newly founded state, whose right to exist they refused to recognize. In the fight against the aggressors, Israel succeeded in expanding its territory, as a result of the war over 700,000 Arabs were expelled from Palestine and some of them still live in refugee camps today. According to estimates, the number of refugees has now grown to five million people.
Israel vs. Hamas
Israel has waged three wars against Hamas since 2008. In the summer of 2014, the most serious Gaza war to date, more than 2200,74 Palestinians were killed, the majority of them civilians. On the Israeli side, there were <> dead, the victims were mainly soldiers.
These are the origins and goals of Hamas
Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. However, the Palestinians claim these territories for an independent state of Palestine. In 1987, shortly after the start of the first Palestinian uprisings against Israel, the so-called Intifada, Hamas was founded. The group's goal is the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state of Palestine. Hamas is the abbreviation of the Arabic term for "Islamic Resistance Movement". The word itself means "zeal" or "fighting spirit."
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The ideological roots of the group lie in the Muslim Brotherhood, as in Islamic Jihad, according to the Federal Agency for Civic Education. At the same time, Hamas saw itself as the antithesis of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In the beginning, Hamas was active not militarily, but as a charity. Among other things, the group financed schools and other social institutions, which was very popular among the impoverished population of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians divided: Hamas vs. Palestinian President Abbas' Fatah movement
In the last elections in the Palestinian territories in 2006, Hamas won against the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but the West did not recognize the result, which led to a brief military conflict with Fatah fighters. After clashes in the summer of 2007, Hamas managed to gain control of the Gaza Strip. Israel then imposed a blockade on the densely populated coastal area, leading to poverty and undersupply in the area. According to the UN, the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip live in very poor conditions.
Around 80 percent of the people in the region are dependent on food aid, according to aid organizations. The conflict between Hamas and Fatah shows that the Palestinians are also divided among themselves. While Hamas completely denies Israel's right to exist, the Palestinian leadership demands a state of its own in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital. In July, however, there were talks between Palestinian President Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, mediated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The EU, US and Israel classify Hamas as a terrorist organisation
The Essedin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, claimed responsibility for the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The EU, the US and Israel classify the group as a terrorist organisation. Recently, tensions between Israel and Palestinians have repeatedly arisen. UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently called on Israel's right-wing religious government to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories." The settlements are a blatant violation of international law and an obstacle to the realization of a viable two-state solution, the UN said in June (bme with AFP/dpa).